My Comment: I was one of the people who could be considered a MIDWIFE to the CREATION of the WWW and INTERNET ( The PUBLIC version of DARPANET ) and a person who worked in the background to FACILITATE interoperability from a HARDWARE standpoint. YOU wouldn't even BE here to argue with me if it wasn't for the efforts to make interoperability PUBLIC, like UUNET did. I PAID to be a node then.
< Soapbox > The EXISTING M$ proprietary files go against the grain of the whole idea of allowing people, regardless of their MONEY or BACKGROUND in COMPUTING, to have access. I read the link that was provided, and applaud those efforts. As I preferred HARDWARE to software, I HIRED software specialists when I needed them in the bad old days. I had had my fill of software issues when I learned 8080 Assembler, BASIC and PASCAL. I learned enough of C to Admin the hardware, SunOS and UNIX. If we had this attitude in the old days, there wouldn't even BE an AMD or a CRAY, I know because I've BTDTGTTS...Check EX-CRAY if you don't believe me.. http://www.excray.com/ As for Reverse Engineering, I KNOW where AMD would be today if they hadn't created the idea of the " WHITE BOX " school of design. Again BTDTGTTS. Yes YOU could do it too IF YOU WANT TO. Remember the INTEL-AMD wars over DESIGN? What I asked in my ORIGINAL thread on this subject, was to be able to make .lit files availible to the people who cannot ( directly or indirectly ) pay for them. You have to PAY M$ to see them. Buying an OS is paying for them. BTW, M$ is " RETIRING " win98. Are you ready to do XP? Under All the flavors of LINUX and FreeBSD, you WOULDN'T. < /Soapbox > The Message that started this thread; the question of .wma just continues it........ Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 20:33:25 -0700 (PDT) From: "Art Blackwell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> View Contact Details View Contact Details Add Mobile Alert To: "free openoffice" <[email protected]> Subject: [users] Making life easier for the DIFFERENTLY-ABLED. What ever happened to implementing the ability of the Writer program to be able to read Micro$haft READER ( .lit ) files? I saw the 32385 issue that was dated some time ago, and noted that there was no progress. I searched and didn't turn up anything else. Yes, I know about C-lit ( no funnies please ) and the steps you need to implement it. I am working on a project implementing making computers easier to use for the DIFFERENTLY-ABLED and being able to READ would make their lives easier. The goal: Make setting up a system as easy as inserting ONE CD and making it as CHEAPLY as possible ( Like FREE ). NO M$ needed for ANYTHING. I am looking at simplifying the interface for the NON computer literate, and it would simplify things to make the ability to read .lit files a part of Open Office. The fact that LINUX Distros bundle in Open Office simplifies the task enormously, but they don't bundle in C-lit AFAIK.( I have worked with DEBIAN lately, along with gentoo and Knoppix at an earlier time ).. This would take away ANOTHER M$ monopoly too, as many FREE e-books still come only in .lit format. P.S. I happen to be a member of that subset of the population called DISABLED and as a result I deal with OLDER people that have that " fear of computers " you hear about. I have FORGOTTEN the ORIGINAL details of the work I did under ASSEMBLER, but I might just relearn it to accomplish my goals... I ask the question: CAN You or WILL You add such a feature? I saw the 32385 issue that was dated some time ago, and noted that there was no progress. Do you need a MANAGER to move that issue forward, or is it truly dead? You then give the INDIVIDUAL the choice to deal with the LEGAL issues. --- "G. Roderick Singleton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Fri, 2006-06-09 at 07:23 -0700, Art Blackwell wrote: > > It looks like it.......Open Office DOESN'T want to tackle the > job > > of opening and reading .lit files....8=/.... > > Excuse me. Microsoft Reader files are proprietary. To integrate > them > into OOo would require reverse engineering. If you have the API > for > these and the file structure and as desperate as you sound, > perhaps you > can contribute your work to this Open Source project as an > addon. Source > for OOo is available for the download for your integration and > there is > plenty of documentation on building Addons. > > > > > I guess I should be glad that Open Office can still work with > > .doc and .ppt files, that is until Micro$quish makes them > > proprietary too....... > > They are proprietary but were reverse engineered over a period > of time > and the import filters that do the translation are at least > 99%. > > > > > Maybe the PHILOSOPHY of Open Office needs to be changed...... > > > > Huh? This is an open source project. Open means OPEN!! " Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it " - Santayana The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Live On.. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
